Dragon Anatomy
Dragons are unique creatures, possessing many fantasy characteristics, but they are not completely beyond the scope of reality. Some characteristics include flight, flame production, intelligence and more. General Anatomy This section is the Anatomy that almost all dragons share Scales The scales of a dragon are quite different to any other scaled creature, not only do they serve as protection from the elements and physical attack, but to look intimidating and/or to attract a mate. There seems to be two types of scales; regular scales (the small scales that line the dragons entire body, apart from the eyes, mouths and some other parts) and scutes (distinguishing scales the larger scales on the body that is unique to only that dragon, like our fingerprints) an example of this is the large scales on Toothless's head. Dragon scales are extremely heat resistant, but not totally fireproof. Wings ''' Dragon wings main purpose is clearly for flight they serve multiple purposes such as fighting, protection, and forelimbs for walking for some. A unique properties of wings is their healing ability, unlike our skin that repairs its self by growing over and scabbing, dragon wings are suspected to grow out from the leading edge of the wing and eventually die and fall off when it reaches the edge. This is quite evident by the tattering at the edges of dragon wings where the damaged areas fall off. '''Eyes Dragon eyes are quite similar to other reptiles eyes. Dragon eyes are naturally slightly slit, but when docile the slit becomes more round or oval. Navigation Dragons have a great sense of navigation, they are able to find their way to and from “Dragon island” and to the island where they lay their eggs. This amazing quality may be the same that salmon use to find the stream where they where born. Another thing used for navigation is the “purr” that dragons emit when in the presence of other dragons. This is evident in the movie when Toothless takes Hiccup and Astrid to dragon island. Skeletal System A dragons skeleton is strong, it is able to withstand the greatest of impacts ranging from falling rocks to smashing into a sea-stack, they can take a beating. This id due to the fact that dragon bones are solid unlike the hollow bones of birds, which makes birds very delicate. Dragon skeletons vary from species to species. Brain Though we have never seen the inside of a dragons head, we can still make some accurate predictions on how it is wired. Dragons are highly adapted to their surroundings, they are an animal of senses, visual, audio, smell, touch and taste. They use these senses to survive in an ever changing world, but two senses stick out, visual and audio. These are crucial to their very survival, so they can eat, and avoid being eaten. Because of the heavy reliance of the senses, a lot of their brain is devoted to analyzing received data, and sending it throughout the brain and the other sensory cortex’s. Two of these sensory cortex’s are extremely intertwined, over stimulating one can affect the other, They are the audio cortex and the visual cortex. Too much sound can affect the vision of a dragon, compromising its aim. Also this is shown through the echolocation of NightFurie's, they are able to send out a pitch of X frequency and be able to construct a three dimension picture in its head outlining the surfaces. Specific Anatomy This section is the Anatomy of specific species and sub-species 'Night Fury' Physical traits The Night fury is a unique dragon, it is streamline and stealthy, built for speed and agility. It has a smaller body and large wings, this allows it to do a vertical takeoff. The great power to weight ratio allows for hairpin turns and fast ground speed. The body of a Night fury is jet black with lighter patches resembling a manta ray. The dragon is specially adapted for nighttime, large eyes and echo-location used for navigation in the night and in dark places. The night fury’s pupils are able to expand to allow more light to be absorbed by the eyes, it is possible that the night fury have a tapetum lucidum (reflective) layer at the back of their eyes to double the amount of light received. The Night Fury has eight Ear-like appendages though only two act like ears, the other six are shown to vibrate while navigating to dragon island. The two larger Ear-like appendages act like the radar-like cat ears, they are able to pick off single sounds in the distance, it is also shown that the Night Fury has an exceptional sense of hearing, an example, being able to hear Hiccup scream in the arena all the way from the cove. Their ability to breath fire seems a bit different from that of most dragons. Instead of accumulating some sort of gas or liquid in their mouths, igniting it and spitting. What they are doing looks more like taking deep breath, "charging" it with distinctive sound, and firing something looking more like pure plasma. Its colour may be very bright, almost white, purple or blue. It may be fired in various forms, like some sort of short beam, exploding bolt or even a weak, slightly concussive blast (Like when he was sneezing, it did almost nothing aside from slight knockback.).While in some cases Hiccup says that he has a limit of six shots, this is actually not sure, as we can see him shot many more of them from time to time. It is possible that this limit applies only to the battle typed fire blasts, and the weaker ones have different, if any limit. Behavioural traits The night fury is an extremely intelligent creature, it is able to understand visual signals and is able to pick up on verbal commands and phrases. The creature is able to pick out threats like Hiccup's knife. They are very curious creatures, they observe things they have never seen before, they are shown to learn by mimicking behaviors like Hiccup's smile. Night Fury's are territorial creatures, they are protective of their belongings, and their friends and they will not hesitate to put their lives on the line to protect them. They have emotions too showing sadness, happiness, anger, and a variety of other emotions, Night fury's are extremely loyal. 'Monstrous Nightmare' Physical traits The Monstrous Nightmare is technically a wyvern (Two legged dragon) though calling it a dragon is still correct. The dragon has two large legs that supports most of its body mass, it supports the rest of its mass on the hands on its wings (where all the wing fingers splay off) where it has a pad for walking and razor sharp talons for grip. The Monstrous Nightmare has a ever-burning pilot light within its self that is present from the time that it hatches, if this pilot light goes out the dragon will get hypothermia, this is because the dragon is not able to create body heat with out it. The hypothermic dragon looses the colour in its scales as its blood rushes into its core to keep itself warm and to slow the loss of heat. The dragon will then become highly weak as not enough heat and oxygen rich blood reaches its mussels. If untreated and the “Pilot light” is not relight the dragon will die of exhaustion or hypothermia. The Monstrous Nightmare Creates a gel-like fuel within its body (Likely an alcohol because it is easy for cells to produce) it is then stored within a large bladder, when the dragon needs to breath fire the bladder contracts and forces the gel through its neck into the mouth. Somewhere along the line the dragons pilot light ignites the fuel. The Monstrous Nightmare has a unique ability, it can set its self on fire, It is said that it coats its self in its saliva, yet the Monstrous nightmare is never shown to groom, and yet if that is the case the dragon would not have any control over the flame on its body. So a theory is that the dragon has small “sweat” glands under its scales that secrets the gel on command, the dragons pilot light then ignites the “Sweat”. The dragon sports large horns on its head that varies with the dragons age, the dragons horn's are unique to the individual dragon. It is possible that the dragons use its horns to compete for mates. Behavioural traits The Monstrous Nightmare is a hot headed feisty dragon; these dragons are aggressive and if spooked will attack anyone in it's way. Like Hookfang, they are maybe not as loyal as Toothless, but when their master is in trouble, they are not afraid to protect them. 'Skrill' Physical traits The Skrill is a Unique dragon, It is the first known dragon (that we know of) that breaths lightning instead of fire. The electricity runs all the way from the Skrill's wing tips to it's tail and back up along it's body to it's mouth. The Skrill's body is also lined with large spikes along it's spinal-cord and head. It is unknown if the spines are fixed in place (by growing from the bone), or if they are attached to muscles and are able to lay down flat against its body. The spines on the skull are able to flex and move up and down, so they are likely attatched muscularly. The Skrill's locomotion is similar to that of a Monstrous Nightmare in that it only has two legs and stabilizes its self using the semi-rudimentary claw-like fingers on it's wings to support it's upper body. The color of a Skrill may vary depending on age, gender, and birth location, but from what we know, a Skrill is covered in Light and Dark gary scales, with purple patches on it's head back and the top of its tail. Behavioural traits Skrills are hyper-persistent; long after a normal predator would consider a rival for it's territory scared off, a Skrill will continue fighting it. This may be because of a small tactical part of it's brain; it's senses appear to be excellent, but as mentioned before, it will continue fighting a capable enemy even if it is outmatched. Hobblegrunt Physical Traits The Hobblegrunt has a dilophosaurus look. It has a big horn a single horn that looks sorta of like a Deadly Nadders but is smaller than its head. It has very sharp teeth that are close together and point upward. It has a frill on the back of its head and eyes near the sides of its horn. Its head is green in color while the body is slighly purple and slighlty gray. On its chin it is slightly purple.Its eyes are colored white. It also has small hooked wings, tiny arms, legs like a Nadders and a what seems like a long body. In one picture on dragonopedia it is slim and streamlined and another shows it to be fat. Behavioral Traits Unknown Screaming Death Physical Traits The Screaming Death is a titan-wing, all white boulder class dragon with deep red eyes. It has a snake like body like the Whispering Death and is also lined with spikes. The tip of its tail is red and when it flies it seems to move its tail in a circular like motion. It has 3 rows of frills on the back of its head that shoots out fire when it spews a fire ball rapidly like a machine gun which the frill shot may or may not be caused by some kind of chain reaction. It's movment like the Whispering Death is very similar to a snake. It has 3 rows of teeth that are aligned diffrently from a Whispering deaths and has a chin remiscent to the Red Death. Its jaw doesn't close all the way and shows all the front teeth which some lock into each other. It can also tunnel underground either using it's teeth to tear through the earth or it uses its thick skull which it can use to bash and destroy sea stags. When it first hatched it wasn't as big until it was seen the second time. It gets its name from its roar which can affect the flight of a dragon and cause it to lose focus because noise can confuse a dragons aim. Behavioral Traits The Screaming Death is ruthless. It attacks those who attack it seen when Hiccup and Toothless shot a plasma blast at it and it chased them. It always comes back for revenge after it has failed. It is merciless and never backs down although it was easily tricked by Hiccup and Toothless when it followed the light and crashed into the sea stack. Although it seems to get smarter every time it grows and didn't fall for that trick a second time. In the end, the Screaming Death will really just do anything to get back to it's birthing place. Speed Stinger Physical Traits Speed Stingers resemble a Theropod dinosaur but with sail-like appendages on its head, back and legs. Most are actually colored green but only one has red fins and stripes. It has a barbed stinger on the tip of its tail with venom that can temporarily paralyze its victims. The paralysis may works kind of like the Flightmare but it injects the venom in the victim and enters the nervous system and cause every nerve to freeze causing the muscles to freeze. It is shown that they also have orange eyes. They have 2 claws on their fingers and 3 clows on their toes which probally help with traction on the ground. The tails may also help in balance since they run very fast. They have very sharp and pointed teeth that could help to tear into the flesh of its food. Their tongues are like other dragons but have to small bulbs at the tip. Behavioral Traits Their behavioral traits are unkown but since they "took over the village" they are most likely very territorial and will claim any land as their own. Red Death 'Physical Traits' The Red Death has a sort of a T-Rex skull that is very thick with six eyes and long sharp teeth. It's tail is very long and has a mace like shape to it that is used to smah things. 'Behavioral Traits' The Red Death is shown to be a very destructive crushing and eating dragon and has a terrible attitude. Category:Dragons